The Islands of Greece (May 20-30)

Thousands of Greek Islands are spread out across the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey. Two hundred, more or less, are inhabited. We visited two - Santorini (Thira) and Crete (both seen at the bottom of the map).

Our first stop was Santorini, a small volcanic island at the south end of an island group called the Cyclades. Santorini is beautiful and amazing. It is a volcanic island. 3,600 years ago, an eruption of biblical proportions occurred that not only took out Santorini, but also took out surrounding islands and areas as far away as Egypt. The Minoan civilization that inhabited Santorini evidently heeded the advance warnings and fled the island since there is no trace of human remains at the archeological sites. They apparently fled to Crete in advance of the eruption, but that was not far enough. Superheated gas (pyroclastic flow) can travel at hundreds of miles per hour and incinerate anything in its path. If that did not get them 70 miles away on Crete, the tsunami estimated to be over 100 feet high did unless they were high in the hills and mountains of Crete. The Minoans, the most advanced civilization of their day, disappeared completely over the next 200 years. An excellent National Geographic video discussing volcanoes in general and Thira in particular can be found here.  

The satellite photo shows the horseshoe-shaped Santorini and the smaller island of Thirasia forming pieces of a ring with small islands in the middle of the caldera. The water-filled caldera formed at the time of the eruption 3,600 years ago when the mountain blew its top.

The eruption of Thira was likely the largest volcanic eruption in recorded human history, an eruption of potentially biblical proportions. Several ancient stories may have been related to this eruption including the parting of the Red Sea, and Plato's description of the fictional island of Atlantis.

We went to the Greek Islands with our friends Bob and Sheree. Bob and I have been friends since we were both 11 years old, and we have stayed close since. We decided to go to the Greek Islands to celebrate Bob's birthday and our anniversary, and celebrate we did. The first 5 days on Santorini were spent mostly sipping Ouzo and watching sunsets. Here are some photos documenting those important events:

Bob and Eric after breakfast

We stayed in the town of Fira (Φηρά). Like much of Santorini, the buildings of Fira are constructed on the steep slopes which drop to the sea. 

Fira

Fira

Fira

Fira

Lounging Fira lizard
(not to be confused with Fira lounge lizards)

The four of us went with a group of 15 for an afternoon catamaran sail from the north end of Santorini to the south end. A boat identical to ours looked like this. We were accompanied by a lively group of Brazilians. Food and drink were excellent, and the crew was great. A great time was had by all. The sunset was spectacular!

Mountain goats spotted high above us on a cliff

Bob and Sheree enjoying thermal water off the coast of Santorini.

Sunset from Exomytis Bay south of Santorini

High speed ferry Santorini to Crete
approaching the Santorini dock

Our next stop was Crete. We boarded the ferry at 6:30 PM, about one hour late and arrived at Heraklion after dark 2 1/2 hours later. We rented a car and embarked on the two hour drive to Chania at the west end of Crete. Fortunately, the coastal highway from Heraklion to Chania was quite good and not a problem. We were cheerfully greeted at midnight by sleepy attendants of the Casa Delfino Hotel in the center of the old town section of Chania.  Here are some photographs from their web site.

Hotel entrance

Hotel courtyard

view the Chania harbor from our deck

Like so much of Greece, Chania is an archeologist's paradise. Evidence of the Minoan civilization has been found dating back at least 3,500 years. Since then, the Byzantines, Romans, and Ottomans have had their presence. Chania was invaded and held by the Nazis during World War II. Evidence of this history is seen everywhere. There was a largely intact wall built by the Romans just outside our hotel.

We were able to visit a huge botanical garden in the foothills of the southern mountains. We took the shortest walk of 2 km through the garden. Here are some of the pictures I took:

I found it necessary to briefly
come out of retirement
using the new portable iProbe™
1.2 THz RF transducer

Our last morning on Crete was spent at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. It is regarded as one of the greatest museums in Greece, and contains the most complete collection of artifacts of the Minoan civilization in the world. The chronological span is over 5,500 years from the Neolithic period to Roman times. Here are some of the pictures I took in the museum: